Bluebasser86

Even if the Luck e Strike isn't quite as good as the Megabass, which I agree it probably isn't after fishing one, for the average fisherman with nothing really at stake if he doesn't get that extra couple of bites, I think they are a great alternative to the Megabass. They do catch fish pretty well and come in plenty of good colors to give the weekend fisherman with the ever shrinking fishing budget a more affordable option.

I look for the nearest deep water to where I caught them during the late fall. The lakes around here it always seems to be somewhere in the 8-15 foot range with 20+feet of water nearby.

Good luck, I've never smoked regularly in my life and I'm really glad I don't. I've been around people who smoked their whole life and the coughing sounds terrible and painful. I guess having asthma was probably a bit of a blessing in that sense Seriously though, I hope you can find the willpower to kick the habit.

A Rage Craw flipped into the water willows helped me win a couple wednesday night tournaments this summer. I don't know what it is but all they do is catch fish.

I agree with the catching bigger fish but in really cold water I think a jig with a compact trailer is a good option but I catch plenty of fish on finesse worms and small tubes in cold water dragging them like I would the jig. I agree though if you drop the bait on the fishes head and it is anything other than a negative mood it will bite a majority of the time.

If I could only have one it would be a GP Zoom magnum finesse worm.

I have $800 left to pay on the boat and it is only a 16' johnboat with a 60hp motor and the boat is pretty beat up so I probably wouldn't be able to get enough to pay off much. Plus it is my main way I relax, which when you're in my line of work you have to have a way to blow off steam. We both had beaters before we bought our current vehicles. I regularly put more into my truck that had over 200k miles on it than I pay on my truck a month now that only has 60k miles on it. Plus her car gets such good gas mileage that it saves her quite a bit over her last car that had a turbo v-6 and got crappy mileage.

I caught an owl night fishing with a muskie jitterbug. Thought I'd hooked a monster bass from the big splash and drag pulling but when the line started to guy up like the fish was going to jump but it didn't stop going up The owl flew in front of the full moon and I realized my situation. Not sure what to do I laid into the owl hard to try to pull the hooks out and the owl must have lost it's bearings and did a nose dive into some blackberry bushes. Thankfully the hooks got tangled in the vines so when the owl took off again it pulled the hooks out, called it a night after that.

A shotgun with birdshot is plenty of home defense. A pump shotgun is probably the best option, the sound of a pump shotgun racking is a pretty universal sound that you'd better get out. Plus if you don't live at home alone a handgun round will easily go through doors or drywall and have enough energy to hurt or kill someone a room or two over, including sleeping kids or spouses. A blast of birdshot will blow a hole in a door and the person on the other side trying to kick it in. Also you don't have to aim nearly as much with a shotgun with birdshot and even a couple pellets connect and most people aren't going to keep trying to get in.

If I'm flipping I don't think I'd go with a leader lighter than 20lb test. I wouldn't use it unless you are in really clear water though, just another knot to worry about failing. I never use one because the only time I flip with braid is in grass and I highly doubt the fish ever notice the line in grass.

I did that with a roostertail on 6lb test one time. Trying to break the line off since it was stuck in a tree overhanging the water and we were on the bank. My buddy was trying to hide behind me in case it came flying back. Well that line stretched like a rubberband so when it ripped loose of the tree it was coming back at supersonic speeds. I stepped out of the way but my friend never saw it coming. The hook buried in his eyebrow and the blade hit him in the eye. He spun around and started screaming and when I first saw it I thought it was stuck in his eye He thought it was too because the blade hit him in the eye and apparently hurt really bad causing the colorful language. Lucky for him I had used the same roostertail to trout fish in a barbless hook only area earlier that year so the hook slid right back out, sure did bleed a lot for such a small hook though

I saw him several years ago when he was just starting to take off and before he was on the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. I laughed until my sides ached.

Thank you guys for your input on this subject. I've stressed many of these same points to my wife but she is very hard headed at times. My father-in-law has no problems with us living there and is actually upset about us moving out. He lives by himself and likes to have the company plus I cook dinner every night, buy the groceries and alot of the household things, and we help with the chores around the house, so we aren't completely freeloading. My wife makes just enough to pay for all of her monthly bills without my help but wouldn't be able to help much with most of the other expenses that come along with home ownership so I would be paying for almost everything if we bought a house. Preach4bass-I really wish I could get my wife to read Dave Ramsey's book, I did but unfortunately after I already had a couple loans but the points and methods he stresses in his book are so simple yet effective.

I'd say a better rod is best if I had to pick. I can catch fish with a LTB rod and a Zebco 33 because I can feel the bite at least, but if I had a Chronarch on an ugly stick I'm not going to be able to feel many bites or hook fish.

They have taste buds all over their bodies but they have to breath through their gills like other fish, never heard of them being able to breath through their skin. They also actually dry out faster than regular fish because they have no scales to hold any water. The reason catfish survive so long out of water is they are used to living in bodies of water with low oxygen levels.

I got preapproved for up to 110k but my wife has terrible credit so they said she wouldn't be able to be on the loan. The area we are looking at is kind of a rural area but it is expanding pretty quickly so I'm guessing if we bought a house there it should go up in value as long as the economy doesn't completely tank. I'd like to stay at least 10k under what I'm approved for so we don't get ourselves in over our heads.

So my wife and I are looking for a house that is closer to my work and affordable. I've found several that we could afford but she isn't "in love" with any of them. Seems like every one of them has something that she just doesn't like for one reason or another and that just knocks them out of the running altogether. She has found some she likes, problem is that they're only about 20-40 thousand dollars out of our price range. Seems we just can't find a compromise. I don't want to settle for a junk house but I don't want to work 80 hour weeks just to be able to make ends meet. She's even mentioned getting an apartment for awhile until we find something which makes even less sense to me because then we are throwing money away each month we could be saving. It's getting pretty frustrating really and just thought I'd ask some advice from you guys since we have never bought a house. My wife works 2 part time jobs and doesn't make much while I work full time but still don't make a lot. We currently live with my father-in-law so we could save money for a house. One of the main problems is we both have car payments, she has 2 student loans, I have a boat payment, along with the other normal monthly bills and expenses so we are already stretched thin. I really feel like we should pay a couple things off before we buy a house but she doesn't want to wait any longer. Sorry for the longwindedness but what would you do in this situation?

I think I'd probably add 2 more rods to that one. One 6'or 6' 6" MH/F for skipping and another one around a 7' ML/F or ML/XF for drop shots and swimming grubs.

My dad went back to cast and drug a big deep diving crankbait across the top of my head. It ripped a big hole in my hat and pulled it off my head. I have really short hair and you could see the 3 streaks that were now oozing blood from where the trebles slid down my head. It didn't hurt like a cut but more like I'd been punched in the back of my head. Thankfully the force of the cast was enough that they just ripped out so at least it wasn't still buried in my head.

I set the 10 second timer on my camera and set it up best I can. Look to see where you need to be with the fish and push the button and get into position. It's not the best picture but it's better than the fish and part of your arm or your face, part of an arm and a fish.

Haven't used the DS rod but I did have the crankbait rod and wasn't impressed, just couldn't feel my bait very well and it didn't keep fish buttoned very well. I think there is better rods close to that price that are better rods.

Nope, no pictures of me in the marina that I know of. I hooked one the day before on the dam that was as big if not bigger but it tossed my bait so there is for sure some bigger ones in there. Those big whites down there are a blast aren't they? If you can find them schooled up it's easy to forget that you're fishing for smallmouth.

Well I've been fishing the Luck e Strike jerkbait a little bit the last three days and they do work. A couple things I'll say about them, replace the split rings, on my 3rd cast with the one I got I hooked a keeper bass that dove and pulled my hook and the split ring off my bait. You have to pull or reel the bait down because it has a tendancy to roll onto the surface if you don't. On the plus side the bait casts great and fishes easily and catches fish. I've caught both largemouth and smallmouth on it and it seems to be holding up fine even after catching several fish and even after bouncing off of my trolling motor shaft after a fish tossed it. It may not be a Megabass but it looks like it could be another good option to have.

Glad you had some success out there. More than likely that's a white bass, I don't think they stock wipers in Perry so unless one got in there somehow it's probably a white. I catch a lot of them swimming grubs on a 1/8oz ballhead, rattletraps, and shad raps. They will hit about anything though.

Went to Wyandotte for a couple hours today to try out the new luck e strike jerkbait and some hand poured worms that I just got. The wind was pretty strong but I got one on my second cast with the jerkbait. Lost a keeper on the next cast that pulled the split ring and the hook off? I guess I'm going to have to change the split rings out on that bait. Did my best to feel the little slider head and worm and managed my only smallmouth of the day. Switched back to the jerkbait and got one that would have been close to a keeper. Probably caught 8-10 mostly on the jerkbait but also caught two on an XR50.